By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Justin Rose did more than just match his best score at the Masters.
With a round that was nearly nine shots better than the field on Thursday, the 44-year-old Rose managed to steal the spotlight from the Masters dominance of Scottie Scheffler and the endless quest of Rory McIlroy to complete the career Grand Slam.
Rose felt his 7-under-par 65 had the potential to be something special. And even with a bogey on the final hole, it was every bit of that.
He opened with three straight birdies. He ran off three in a row around the turn. And he wound up with a three-shot lead over Scheffler, Ludvig Aberg and Corey Conners.
“When I have been playing well, I feel like I have been competing at a high level,” Rose said. “My consistency maybe has not been as high this year. But my good is good again. So I’m excited about that.”
Scheffler did his part in his bid to win a third Masters green jacket in four years, playing a bogey-free round of 68.
McIlroy, so desperate to win this major and complete the career Grand Slam, was right there with him until the end. He took a pair of double bogeys late in the afternoon with careless mistakes and had to settle for a 72. It was the seventh straight time he failed to break 70 in the opening round of the Masters.
He declined to speak to the media after his round.
Rose set one Masters record: The fifth time he has had at least a share of the 18-hole lead, breaking the mark held by Jack Nicklaus. The glaring difference, of course, is Nicklaus has six of those green jackets.
It also was the eighth time Rose has had at least a share of the lead after any round at Augusta National, something only five others have done. All are Masters champions.
“I feel like I’ve played well enough to win this tournament,” said Rose, whose best chance was a playoff loss to Sergio Garcia in 2017. “I just feel like I don’t have the jacket to prove it. … But you’ve got to be playing the golf to keep creating those opportunities, and the only way to do that is to get your name on the leaderboard. I definitely don’t shy away from it.”
Rose opened with a 25-foot birdie putt and made his eighth birdie with a 20-foot putt on the par-3 16th. In between was a series of good shots – smart shots – that gave him plenty of chances and he converted most of them.
Augusta National, soaked by rain that washed out most of the Monday practice round, already was getting scary fast.
The average score was 73.6. Only six players broke 70, and 20 others broke par.
“Ridiculous. That’s nuts,” Viktor Hovland said about Rose’s score. “Those greens are so firm. I remember a few years ago – I can’t remember what year it was – but he kind of did something similar. I think this one is probably a little bit more impressive because out of all the Masters I’ve played, this is probably the firmest it’s been on a Thursday. It’s definitely no joke out there.”
Scheffler was 3 under at the turn, including one birdie on the par-5 eighth in which his ball was deep in a divot hole short of the green. He managed to get that out some 20 feet left of the pin and used the slope to bring it back to 15 feet and made the putt.
He was rarely under stress.
“I struggled for what felt like two pars today,” Scheffler said “But other than that, the golf course was in front of me most of the day, kept the ball in play, did a lot of really good things out there.”
U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau and Tyrrell Hatton carried the LIV Golf flag, both at 69. DeChambeau had seven birdies in his up-and-down day, a show of his scoring power.
“Making some bogeys for me probably frees me up a little bit and says, you know what? Just go out and play some golf,” DeChambeau said.
The roars came early, along with a few shockers.
Fred Couples, who wondered a month ago if at 65 with a creaky back he would still be welcomed to play, became only the second player that age to break par. Couples holed out from the fairway on the 14th with a 6-iron hybrid on his way to a 71. Tom Watson was also 65 – by 28 days he is still the oldest – when he shot 71 in 2015.
The horror show belonged to Nick Dunlap, a 21-year-old who last year won on the PGA Tour as an amateur. This must have felt like amateur hour when he made double bogey on the final hole for a 90. It was the highest score since Ben Crenshaw shot 91 in 2015 at ag 63.
Hideki Matsuyama might have caught the worst break when his approach into the par-5 13th hit the pin and caromed into the tributary of Rae’s Creek. The wildest day belonged to Nicolai Hojgaard – one eagle, five birdies, four pars, five bogeys and three double bogeys. Do the math and that comes out to 76.
“It’s mentally draining playing a round like this,” Hojgaard said.
And then there was McIlroy, chipping into the water from behind the 15th green for double bogey, and then going long on the 17th and compounding that mistake with a three-putt for another double bogey.
Far more blissful on a warm spring day was Rose, who at one point had it going so well that he felt like a pitcher throwing a no-hitter.
He pitched to 6 feet for birdie on the par-5 eighth. He hit wedge to the ninth and used the slope to set up a 5-foot birdie, giving him a career-low 31 on the front nine. That was followed by a 12-foot birdie putt.
“That’s when the day felt a bit different. That’s when I felt I was doing something potentially more on the special side,” Rose said.
And then he really began to pull away from the field with a smart pitch away from the water to set up a 10-foot birdie on the 15th, followed by the 20-foot birdie on the 16th. The pins on the final two holes allowed for birdies and Rose was thinking super special. He got par-bogey instead, but that didn’t ruin his mood on a day when he needed just 22 putts.
“I’m 44. Golf is not going to get easier for me in the next five, 10 years, whatever it’s going to be,” Rose said. “So your opportunity is less going forward. So you have to make the most of it.”
RORY SQUANDERS STRONG START
Two well-struck shots. Two big bounces over the green. That was all it took for McIlroy to turn a superb opening round into another pedestrian start.
McIlroy was 4-under par, three shots behind Rose and looking to take it deeper when he made double bogey from the middle of the fairway on the par-5 15th hole, then added another double two holes later. He had to salvage par from the pine straw on the 18th for an even-par 72 that left him seven back.
It’s a familiar position for McIlroy, who needs a green jacket to complete the career Grand Slam but has broken 70 just twice in his 17 opening rounds at Augusta National.
McIlroy came into the week in superb form, with two wins in 2025 and a more well-rounded game that seemed primed to handle any adversity that came his way in a tournament that has clearly gotten inside his head.
With spectators applauding and chanting his name as he walked onto tee boxes, he got off to a solid start – a superlative one, actually, by his standards – by turning in 3-under 33, his best opening nine to start the tournament since he shot 32 in 2011. (Yes, that was the year he closed with an 80.)
After another titanic drive on 15, McIlroy launched a 4-iron above the loblolly pine trees. It landed past the flag, bounced hard on the new, firmer-than-usual green and settled behind the putting surface, leaving a slick downhill chip. McIlroy had no way of knowing that, three groups ahead of him, Patrick Cantlay hit two shots into the water from a similar spot, leading to triple bogey.
McIlroy found the water once, then took his penalty drop on the other side and failed to get up-and-down, making a double bogey that felt even worse on a reachable par 5.
“That chip from long isn’t easy,” said Ludvig Aberg, who played with McIlroy and made birdie when his second shot held the green. “We said this week that if we’re in between numbers and you don’t love it, then you should always lay up and take the wedge. It might seem boring, but a 5 isn’t a terrible score on that hole.”
The par-4 17th was sloppier for McIlroy. His approach landed past the hole and took a hard hop, his chip got away from him, and he three-putted for a 6.
Hours before McIlroy began his final round, the tournament’s honorary starters – Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson – each said they believed McIlroy would win this year and were pulling for him. Nicklaus had lunch last week with McIlroy, who went through his hole-by-hole game plan for Augusta National, and the six-time champion didn’t suggest a single change.
Nicklaus also knows what’s held McIlroy back.
“He’s got all the shots. He’s got all the game. He certainly is as talented as anybody in the game,” Nicklaus said. “But if you look, go back and see his history the last few years, he gets to a place a lot of times an 8 or a 7 pops up, and that keeps you from getting to where he needs to go.”
COUPLES NOT CLOWNING
Couples was so unflappable during the first round that not even a sound engineer for one of the broadcasts who wandered down the middle of the fairway as the 1992 champion was trying to tee off threw him out of sync.
Couples chipped in for birdie from left of the green at the first. He holed a hybrid from 191 yards for eagle at the 14th. And after finishing with four consecutive pars, he signed for his tidy 1-under 71.
“I don’t want to be a clown,” Couples said, “but I can play golf. I can play around here. If the weather is like this and not hard, I can – as long as I don’t do crazy things – I can shoot 73 or 4 or 5. That’s not embarrassing myself at all. If I do that, and did that today and come back with 70 or 71 tomorrow, the goal is for me to make the cut.”
Hard to believe that a year ago, Couples wondered whether Masters chairman Fred Ridley would want him to keep playing.
His back was bothering him again, he had just limped through rounds of 80 and 76 to miss the cut and it seemed like a whole lot more than 12 months since Couples had become the oldest player in Masters history to play the weekend.
It took a phone call with Steve Ethun, the chief tournament officer for the Masters, to reassure Couples he was welcome.
He certainly looked like he belonged on Thursday.
Sure, Couples may have been 25 yards behind playing partners Harris English and Taylor Pendrith off the tees. He has a bag full of hybrids rather than conventional irons. But more often than not, Couples had his bright yellow ball tracking toward the hole, or at least staying out of trouble – perhaps the most important factor in making the cut at the Masters.
“Yeah, he was great, just to kind of see how he plays this place,” said Pendrith, who shot 77. “I learned a few things from him for sure just watching him play. He’s played here many, many times. He played awesome today – 1-under par is a fantastic round. He played really steady. Just kind of missed it in the right places and pecked away.”
It was an eventful round, and not just because of the chip-in and the hole-out with the hybrid.
Couples was even-par when he arrived at the par-4 ninth, and Harris had struck his drive down the middle of the fairway. Couples was about to tee off himself when one of the sound engineers in a trailing group wandered Waldo-like into the picture.
Couples waved at him. So did one of the gallery volunteers. After a minute, Couples resorted to cracking jokes.
Once the fella finally moved, Couples cracked his tee shot down the middle. He hit his approach to 7 feet, playing it perfectly off the ridge running through the green, and rolled in the birdie putt as the spectators roared their approval.
It sounded just like an echo from Amen Corner in 1992, when Couples’ ball defied gravity at the par-3 12th and refused to roll back into Rae’s Creek. He proceeded to hold off Raymond Floyd by two and win the green jacket.
“He’s a legend in the game and a legend here,” Pendrith said. “It’s his 40th time playing the Masters. People love him. They show great respect to him. They’re all cheering for him. It was really cool to play with him in my first and his 40th.”
MICKELSON COULD MISS CUT AFTER 75
Phil Mickelson’s attempt to turn back the clock one more time at the Masters got off to a rocky start.
The 54-year-old three-time Masters champion opened with a 3-over 75, leaving him well back of the leaders. He is in jeopardy of missing the cut for the first time since 2016 and only the fourth time in 32 appearances at the famed Augusta National Golf Club.
Mickelson didn’t speak with reporters after the round, which he culminated with bogeys on No. 17 and 18. He was overheard telling tournament officials who facilitate player interviews, “C’mon guys, I shot 75 today. I haven’t ate all day. I’ll catch you tomorrow.”
Two years ago Mickelson shot a final-round 65 to finish tied for second, the best finish ever by a player 50 years or older in tournament history.
It was evident early on that this would not be Mickelson’s day.
He shot 39 on the front nine and finished his round by hitting just eight of 14 fairways and converting was 2 of 4 sand saves. The lone highlight came on No. 16 when he thrilled the crowd by settling his tee shot on the 185-yard, par-3 to within five feet for an easy birdie.
But Mickelson failed to take advantage of the momentum swing on the final two holes.
His drive on 17 sailed way left and nearly found the adjacent seventh green. He managed to work out of that jam, leaving his approach shot to the right side of the green. But a manageable loft wedge rolled well past the flag and came to rest near the back side of the green. When his 15-foot par putt rolled past the cup, Mickelson raised his leg and let out a frustrated groan.
He found the sand bunker on 18, but couldn’t save par there either.
Mickelson won his first green jacket in 2004, then captured another two years later. In 2010, he joined what is an elusive group of eight players that have three or more green jackets by shooting 16-under 272, etching his name in tournament lore.
Mickelson, who left for the LIV Tour in 2021, hadn’t been playing poorly this season. He had finished in the top six in two of his last three tournaments including last week at Miami.
LEGENDS SHARE LAUGHS, TALK OBLIGATIONS
Player, Nicklaus and Watson walked across the dew-soaked grass outside the clubhouse to warm applause, and when they reached the first tee box shortly after sunrise, patrons who had staked out viewing spots with their green Masters folding chairs rose to their feet.
Then the three luminaries turned the traditional honorary tee shots that open the Masters into a comedy sketch about their aging bodies.
“The tee is yours,” Masters chairman Fred Ridley said to Nicklaus.
“Maybe,” Nicklaus said. “If I don’t fall down putting this (tee) in the ground.”
Nicklaus pumped his fist after successfully teeing up his golf ball, then felt the need to warn the spectators: “Oh boy. Woo! Watch out.”
The 85-year-old Nicklaus said later that a primary thought in his head was not to kill anyone with an errant shot. He hit it solidly enough and found the left edge of the wide fairway of Tea Olive, the scenic opening hole.
Player, 89, kicked his leg after his tee shot, and the 75-year-old Watson outdrove them both with a swing that has held up over time. Augusta National staffers positioned along the fairway scurried out to collect the three ceremonial golf balls, and the Masters was underway. The first official pairing was Davis Riley and Patton Kizzire, going off in a twosome before groups of three the rest of the day.
Thirty-nine years after winning his last green jacket, Nicklaus was joined by his wife, Barbara, known widely as the First Lady of Golf. She was dressed in the traditional white caddie bib of the Masters, and toted along her husband’s small bag with the single club he needed for his ceremonial duties – a purple-shafted driver.
The tradition of honorary starters began in 1963, when club co-founder Bobby Jones asked Scottish pros Fred McLeod and Jock Hutchinson to lead off the opening round. They served in the role into the 1970s, when the custom was paused for a handful of years. In 1981, Gene Sarazen and Byron Nelson assumed the job. Sam Snead joined a few years later. And their opening tee shots became as much a part of the Masters experience as those pimento cheese sandwiches.
Arnold Palmer served as a starter from 2007 until his death in 2016. Nicklaus had joined him in 2010 and Player two years later. Watson made it a group of three again three years ago – a trio with a combined 11 green jackets and 35 major championships to their names.
After getting relief from the chilly morning air, the honorary starters donned their green jackets and took questions about a variety of topics at a freewheeling and occasionally awkward news conference.
“I’ve got a young girlfriend (who’s) changed my life. How about that, at 90, finding a girlfriend. Tom’s not as old as me, but he’s also found a new one,” Player said.
Asked if he wanted to weigh in on that subject, Watson lifted his hands, smiled and shook his head.
Player, Nicklaus and Watson all said they believe players should always talk to the media after their rounds, even if they played poorly – a subject that came up again this spring when Collin Morikawa told the media, “I don’t owe anyone anything.”
Nicklaus said players could choose not to speak after their rounds, but he can’t recall ever making that choice himself. Player said competitors should be required by the PGA Tour to talk.
“I think there should be a PGA rule, that if you’re requested to go after a round, it’s our obligation to do this,” Player said. “If you ask for somebody to go to the press room, whether you shoot 90 or you shoot 60, you should have to go there.”
AP sports writers Ben Nuckols, Dave Skretta and Steve Reed contributed to this story.